"Stolen radioactive shipment found in Mexico" by Olga R. Rodriguez | Associated Press, December 05, 2013
MEXICO CITY — A missing shipment of radioactive cobalt-60 was found Wednesday near where the stolen truck transporting the material was abandoned in central Mexico state, the country’s nuclear safety director said.
The highly radioactive material was found in an empty lot about a half a mile from Hueypoxtla, an agricultural town of about 4,000 people, but it poses no threat or a need for an evacuation, said Juan Eibenschutz, director general of the National Commission of Nuclear Safety and Safeguards.
‘‘Fortunately there are no people where the source of radioactivity is,’’ Eibenschutz said.
The cargo truck hauling the extremely dangerous cobalt-60 that had been used in medical equipment was stolen from a gas station early Tuesday, and authorities had put out an alert in six central states and the capital looking for it. Police and the military joined in the hunt.
The truck was taking the cobalt to a nuclear waste facility in the state of Mexico, which is adjacent to Mexico City.
Eibenschutz said direct exposure to cobalt-60 could result in death within a few minutes. He said hospitals near the area were asked to report if they treated anyone exposed to radioactivity.
‘‘This is a radioactive source that is very strong,’’ Eibenschutz said.
But, he added, the material poses no threat to human life if kept at least 500 yards away.
Eibenschutz did not know the exact weight of cobalt, but said it was the largest amount stolen in recent memory, and the intensity of the material caused the alert.
The material was used in obsolete radiation therapy equipment that is being replaced across Mexico’s public health system. It was coming from the general hospital in the northern border city of Tijuana, Eibenshutz said.
Before the container was found, he said the thieves most likely wanted the white 2007 Volkswagen cargo vehicle with a moveable platform and crane.
Eibenschutz said there was nothing to indicate the theft of the cobalt was intentional or in any way intended for an act of terrorism.
That's what I was wondering, and if this is some way of laying the groundwork for a dirty bomb false flag around Christmas time.
The truck marked ‘‘Transportes Ortiz’’ left Tijuana on Nov. 28 and was headed to the storage facility when the driver stopped to rest at a gas station in Tepojaco, in Hidalgo state north of Mexico City.
The driver, Valentin Escamilla Ortiz, told authorities he was sleeping in the truck when two men with a gun approached about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. They made him get out, tied his hands and feet, and left him in a vacant lot nearby.
When he was able to free himself, he ran back to the gas station to get help.
On average, a half dozen thefts of radioactive materials are reported in Mexico each year and none have proven to be aimed at the cargo, Eibenschutz said. He said that in all the cases the thieves were after shipping containers or the vehicles.
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If true they chose the wrong vehicles because the stuff will make you sick:
"6 held in radioactive material theft" by E. Eduardo Castillo and Adriana Gomez Licon | Associated Press, December 07, 2013
MEXICO CITY — Six people being tested for possible radiation exposure in a hospital in central Mexico are suspects in the theft of highly radioactive cobalt-60, a government official said Friday.
The official said the six were arrested Thursday and taken to the general hospital in Pachuca for observation and testing for radiation exposure.
Once they are cleared, they will be turned over to federal authorities in connection with the case of a cargo truck stolen Monday at gunpoint that was carrying the extremely dangerous material.
The official did not specify how the six were allegedly involved in the theft.
The cobalt-60 theft triggered alerts in six Mexican states and Mexico City, as well as international notifications to the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. It raised concerns that the material could have been stolen to make a dirty bomb, a conventional explosive that disseminates radioactive material.
So the narrative is out there.
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Related:
"DAY OF THE DEAD -- A woman stood near a relative's grave at a cemetery in Santa Maria Atzompa in Oaxaca, Mexico, on Friday. Mexicans honor their departed kin on the Day of the Dead by decorating graves and preparing meals (Boston Globe November 2 2013)."
"SEEKING BLESSINGS IN BOLIVIA -- In La Paz Friday, hundreds of people carried human skulls to a chapel, where they asked for health, money, and other favors in an annual festival. The skulls, called "natitas," are from abandoned cemeteries (Boston Globe November 9 2013)."
A bit morbid, but time to float out of here:
"COLOR FORMS -- A balloon was filled on Friday for an annual festival in Leon, Mexico, featuring participants from more than 200 countries (Boston Globe November 16 2013)."
Also scroll: Mexico
